IOWA STATUTES AND CODES
227.2 - INSPECTION.
227.2 INSPECTION.
1. The director of inspections and appeals shall make, or cause
to be made, at least one licensure inspection each year of every
county care facility. Either the administrator of the division or
the director of inspections and appeals, in cooperation with each
other, upon receipt of a complaint or for good cause, may make, or
cause to be made, a review of a county care facility or of any other
private or county institution where persons with mental illness or
mental retardation reside. A licensure inspection or a review shall
be made by a competent and disinterested person who is acquainted
with and interested in the care of persons with mental illness and
persons with mental retardation. The objective of a licensure
inspection or a review shall be an evaluation of the programming and
treatment provided by the facility. After each licensure inspection
of a county care facility, the person who made the inspection shall
consult with the county authorities on plans and practices that will
improve the care given patients and shall make recommendations to the
administrator of the division and the director of public health for
coordinating and improving the relationships between the
administrators of county care facilities, the administrator of the
division, the director of public health, the superintendents of state
mental health institutes and resource centers, community mental
health centers, and other cooperating agencies, to cause improved and
more satisfactory care of patients. A written report of each
licensure inspection of a county care facility under this section
shall be filed with the administrator of the division and the
director of public health and shall include:
a. The capacity of the institution for the care of residents.
b. The number, sex, ages, and primary diagnoses of the
residents.
c. The care of residents, their food, clothing, treatment
plan, employment, and opportunity for recreational activities and for
productive work intended primarily as therapeutic activity.
d. The number, job classification, sex, duties, and salaries
of all employees.
e. The cost to the state or county of maintaining residents
in a county care facility.
f. The recommendations given to and received from county
authorities on methods and practices that will improve the conditions
under which the county care facility is operated.
g. Any failure to comply with standards adopted under section
227.4 for care of persons with mental illness and persons with mental
retardation in county care facilities, which is not covered in
information submitted pursuant to paragraphs "a" to "f", and
any other matters which the director of public health, in
consultation with the administrator of the division, may require.
2. A copy of the written report prescribed by subsection 1 shall
be furnished to the county board of supervisors, to the county mental
health and mental retardation coordinating board or to its advisory
board if the county board of supervisors constitutes ex officio the
coordinating board, to the administrator of the county care facility
inspected and to its resident advocate committee, and to the
department on aging.
3. The department of inspections and appeals shall inform the
administrator of the division of an action by the department to
suspend, revoke, or deny renewal of a license issued by the
department of inspections and appeals to a county care facility, and
the reasons for the action.
4. In addition to the licensure inspections required or
authorized by this section, the administrator of the division shall
cause to be made an evaluation of each person cared for in a county
care facility at least once each year by one or more qualified mental
health, mental retardation, or medical professionals, whichever is
appropriate.
a. It is the responsibility of the state to secure the annual
evaluation for each person who is on convalescent leave or who has
not been discharged from a state mental health institute. It is the
responsibility of the county to secure the annual evaluation for all
other persons with mental illness in the county care facility.
b. It is the responsibility of the state to secure the annual
evaluation for each person who is on leave and has not been
discharged from a state resource center. It is the responsibility of
the county to secure the annual evaluation for all other persons with
mental retardation in the county care facility.
c. It is the responsibility of the county to secure an annual
evaluation of each resident of a county care facility to whom neither
paragraph "a" nor paragraph "b" is applicable.
5. The evaluations required by subsection 4 shall include an
examination of each person which shall reveal the person's condition
of mental and physical health and the likelihood of improvement or
discharge and other recommendations concerning the care of those
persons as the evaluator deems pertinent. One copy of the evaluation
shall be filed with the administrator of the division and one copy
shall be filed with the administrator of the county care facility.
Section History: Early Form
[S13, § 2727-a59; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 3518; C46, 50, 54,
58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, S81, § 227.2; 81 Acts, ch 78, §
20, 32] Section History: Recent Form
96 Acts, ch 1129, § 53--55; 99 Acts, ch 129, §10; 2000 Acts, ch
1112, §51; 2009 Acts, ch 23, §11
Referred to in § 227.3, 229.15